Game With Bonus Jackpot

ABSTRACT

There is disclosed a method of playing a card game involving a dealer and a banker, who may be the same person or may be a computing device, and at least one player. Each player first may determine whether to pay a collection allowing the player to participate in a bonus jackpot game. The collection may be added to the bonus jackpot pool. The dealer may deal a hand of two or more cards to the banker and to each player. Predetermined rules define a plurality of hands eligible for a bonus jackpot payout and the amount of payout for each eligible hand. Each player who paid the collection and who was dealt an eligible hand may receive a bonus jackpot payout from the bonus jackpot pool.

NOTICE OF COPYRIGHTS AND TRADE DRESS

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. This patent document may showand/or describe matter which is or may become trade dress of the owner.The copyright and trade dress owner has no objection to the facsimilereproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure as it appears in thePatent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwisereserves all copyright and trade dress rights whatsoever.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

This disclosure relates to card games which are particularly suitablefor use in gaming establishments.

2. Description of the Related Art

Card games may be played for enjoyment and profit. Traditional poker isplayed by two or more players who are competing against each other towin a pool of money accumulated by multiple rounds of betting. Eachplayer is dealt a hand of five to seven cards, which may includecommunity cards common to all players' hands. Traditional poker gamesinclude multiple rounds of betting, or opportunities to bet as the handsare dealt. In some variations of poker, players may bet before the firstcards are dealt and after the complete hands are dealt. In othervariations, players may bet at intermediate points when only some of thecards constituting a hand have been dealt. Each player must eithermatch, or call, every bet made by other players or fold (withdraw fromthe hand), losing any money already wagered on the hand. The objectiveof poker is to either have the highest hand, according towell-established definitions, of the players who have not withdrawnafter the last round of betting, or to be the only player who does notfold. Poker can be exciting but time-consuming due to the time requiredfor multiple players to make call/fold decisions each round of betting.

Casinos and other gaming establishments continually offer new games totheir clientele. In the interest of maintaining a quick pace to thegame, many such games are limited to one or two rounds of betting. Toincrease player interest and excitement, such games may offer theopportunity to concurrently bet on different outcomes or, in effect, toplay multiple games at the same time using the same dealt hands. Manypopular games enable each player to play against a banker, rather thanagainst other players. In a casino, the banker, who usually functions asdealer, may be an employee playing on behalf of the establishment.Alternatively, in a “card room” game each player may have the option toact as banker or the banker may be a licensed third-party serviceprovider or the banker may be a player trust or pool fund. The card roomestablishment may provide a dealer to manage the game and collect feesfrom the players.

Players typically enjoy games which can be played rapidly and whichoffer players a number of wagering choices. Players also may enjoy gamesthat provide the possibility of very high odds or a high ratio of thepotential winnings to the size of the initial wager.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a method of playing a card game.

FIG. 2 is a payout table.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a computing device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Throughout this description, the embodiments and examples shown shouldbe considered as exemplars, rather than limitations on the apparatus andmethods disclosed or claimed.

Description of Processes

A bonus jackpot game may be played using a conventional 52-card deck ofplaying cards. The game may be played by a dealer and an optionalbanker, who may be the same person or a computing device, and at leastone additional player. The game can be played on any surface that allowsthe cards to be shuffled and dealt. A casino or card club may provide aspecialized table having markings that define the player locations andthe positions on the table for the players to place their bets,commissions, and collections.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a flow chart of a bonus jackpot game 105 beginsat 100, proceeds through blocks 110, 120, 130, and 140 and ends at block150. At block 110, each player has the option to pay a collection toparticipate in the bonus jackpot game 105. The collection may be a fixedamount per hand such as $0.50 or $5.00 or some other amount. The amountcollected from the one or more players who have opted to pay thecollection is added to the bonus jackpot pool at block 120. The bonusjackpot pool may be a separate pool of money maintained to pay bonusjackpot payouts to players who elect to participate in the bonus jackpotgame 105 on any specific deal. In the event that a player who pays thecollection does not win a bonus jackpot payout on a particular hand, thecollection is not won by the banker or the establishment, but is addedto the bonus jackpot pool for payment of bonus jackpot payouts on futurehands.

The bonus jackpot pool is held by the casino or card club establishmentfor the benefit of the participating players. The funds in the bonusjackpot pool are not the property of the casino or game roomestablishment and are not the property of the banker participating inthe game. The casino or card room establishment may provide seed fundsto initiate the bonus jackpot pool and may recover the seed funds whenthe bonus jackpot pool has grown to sufficient size to assure payment ofbonus jackpot payouts. The casino or card room establishment may receivea management fee from the bonus jackpot pool.

The casino or card room establishment may also require a housecollection, a commission or a fee from each player for participation inthe game. The house collection, commission or fee is separate from thebonus jackpot collection.

At block 130 each player and the banker may be dealt a hand of two cardsor more. At block 140, each player who elected to pay the bonus jackpotcollection and who was dealt a hand equal to one of a number ofpredetermined hand types may receive a bonus jackpot payout from thebonus jackpot pool in accordance with a predetermined payout schedule.The predetermined hand types and payout schedule may vary between gamingestablishments, and will vary with the number of cards used for thebonus jackpot game. The predetermined hand types and payout schedule maybe determined in advance of the playing of the game and may be subjectto approval from state or other regulatory agencies. The predeterminedhand types and payout schedule may be posted in the gamingestablishment, may be used in advertising, and may be made available tothe players in other ways.

The bonus jackpot game 105 may be played concurrently with one or moreother games that make use of the same hands dealt to the banker and eachplayer. For example, the bonus jackpot game may be played concurrentlywith a traditional poker game such as draw poker or stud poker,low-ball, Texas Hold-em, Omaha, blackjack, baccarat, pai-gow poker orpai-gow tiles, Caribbean Stud, Easy Poker, three-card poker, pan nine orsuper nine, thirteen card, or other games using dealt hands of two ormore cards. The bonus jackpot game could be played with all or a portionof the cards dealt for the concurrent game. For example, a bonus jackpotgame could be based on the two down cards dealt to each player in TexasHold-em or seven-card stud poker.

An example of a bonus jackpot game played concurrently with three-cardpoker is shown in FIG. 1. Three-card poker is a known card game that hasbecome popular in card rooms and casinos. While the rules for three-cardpoker may vary in different venues, the general methods of thethree-card poker game 155 are shown in FIG. 1 from block 160 thru block180.

At block 160, each player participating in the three-card poker game maymake a first bet, commonly termed an “ante” bet. A player may elect toparticipate in the three card poker game 155 by making the ante bet 160,may elect to participate in the bonus jackpot game by paying thecollection 110, or may elect to participate in both games.

Each player and the banker are dealt a three-card hand at block 130. Thesame three-card hand may be used for both the bonus jackpot game 105 andthe concurrent three-card poker game 155.

At block 170, each player participating in the three-card poker game 155may inspect their cards. Each player has the option to fold, orwithdraw, if they believe that their hand does not outrank the unknownhand held by the banker. Alternately, each player may make a second bet,commonly called the “play” bet if they believe their hand will outrankthe dealer's hand. Players who elect to fold forfeit their ante bet tothe banker.

At block 180, the banker inspects his cards and the banker settles witheach player who had not previously folded, in turn, as follows:

-   -   a. In the event that the banker's hand does not meet a minimum        criteria, typically queen high, the banker pays each remaining        player even money (one-to-one) on the ante bet, and the player        retains their play bet;    -   b. In the event that the banker's hand meets the minimum        criteria, the banker wins both the ante bet and the play bet if        the banker's hand is higher than the player's hand according to        a predetermined hand ranking, and the banker pays the player        one-to-one on the ante bet if the player's hand is higher. If        the player's hand is higher than the banker's, the banker will        also pay the player a multiple of their play bet according to a        play bet payout schedule which varies between gaming        establishments.

In order to attract and maintain player interest, the bonus jackpotpayout schedule for a three-card bonus jackpot game may include a payoutof greater than 100 times the bonus jackpot collection amount for atleast one possible three-card hand. The bonus jackpot payout for atleast one possible three-card hand may be 200 times the bonus jackpotcollection amount. The bonus jackpot payout schedule may be inaccordance with Payout Table I, Payout Table II, or Payout Table III asshown in FIG. 2, or in accordance with some other set of payout rules.

In each of the Payout Table I and Payout Table II of FIG. 2, the highestpayout is for a “mini royal flush of spades”, which is a hand containingexactly the queen, king, and ace of spades. Thus the highest payout forPayout Table I and Payout Table II is paid for exactly one of thepossible three-card hands that may be dealt from a 52-card deck. PayoutTable III provides the highest payout for any mini royal flush, orexactly four of the possible three card hands. The other bonus jackpotpayout hands in these example payout tables are a mini royal flush ofsuits other than spades (queen, king ace of the same suit), a straightflush (three cards of the same suit in sequence, other than a mini royalflush), three of a kind (three cards of the same rank), a straight(three cards in sequence not of the same suit), a flush (three cards ofthe same suit not in sequence) and a pair (two cards of the same rankplus any third card).

Selecting a mini royal flush to receive the highest bonus jackpot payoutis in keeping with traditional poker games where a five-card royal flushis the highest possible hand. However, the selection of the hand toreceive the highest bonus payout is arbitrary, and the highest bonuspayout could be made for a hand containing the 2, 3, 4 of spades; or the3 of spades, 6 of diamonds and 10 of clubs; or any other single hand orgroup of one or more hands.

The payout tables of FIG. 2 are suitable for use with a bonus jackpotgame in which the bonus jackpot is awarded based on a three-card hand. Abonus jackpot game using more or fewer than three cards would require adifferent payout table.

The bonus jackpot payouts come from the bonus jackpot pool. Optionally,to speed payment of the bonus jackpot payouts and maintain the pace ofthe game, a banker or a dealer may make the bonus jackpot payouts to theplayer. In this case, the banker or the dealer would be reimbursed fromthe bonus jackpot pool periodically, at the end of the game, or othertimes. The banker or dealer making the bonus jackpot payouts may beassisted by a computing device that records the bonus jackpot payoutsand/or prints receipts to be used in documenting the reimbursement duefor the bonus jackpot payouts

Description of Apparatus

A bonus jackpot game may be played between at least one player and acomputing device in the form of a gaming machine. In this case, thecomputing device may fulfill the roles of both dealer and banker.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a computing device 100 may consist of aprocessor 110 and a memory 120 coupled to the processor 110. At leastone storage device 130 may be coupled to the processor for the storageof data and instructions. As used herein, a storage device is a devicethat allows for reading and/or writing to a storage medium. Thesestorage media include, for example, magnetic media such as hard disks,floppy disks and tape; optical media such as compact disks (CD-ROM andCD-RW) and digital versatile disks (DVD and DVD±RW); flash memory cards;and other storage media. Storage devices include, hard disk drives, DVDdrives, flash memory devices, and others.

Computing device 100 may included a user interface 140. The userinterface 140 may commonly be a display panel 150 with a touch-screendata entry device 160. The processor 110 may provide display content 155to the display panel 150, and may receive user commands 165 from thetouch-screen data entry device 160. The computing device 100 may includeother user interface devices such as a keyboard, control panel, mouse orother pointing device, and other data entry devices.

Computing device 100 may include or be coupled to a payment device 170for receiving bets and collections from the at least one player. Thepayment device may be a receptor for coins, bills, chips, or tokens; maybe a financial card reader; or may be some other payment receptionmechanism. Payment device 170 or some other device may be capable ofproviding payouts to the at least one player for winning hands. Payoutsmay be made in the form of cash, chips, tokens, credit against anaccount, script, or some other method.

Computing device 100 may perform the processes and steps attributed tothe dealer and banker in the games described in FIG. 1. Computing device100 may receive elections from at least one player via the userinterface 140. Computing device 100 may receive any bet and/orcollection elected by the player. Computing device 100 may includesoftware to simulate the random dealing of hands. Computing device 100may evaluate the hands and provide a payout to the player for a winninghand.

Computing device 100 may include software and/or hardware for providingfunctionality and features described herein. Computing device 100 maytherefore include one or more of: logic arrays, memories, analogcircuits, digital circuits, software, firmware, and processors such asmicroprocessors, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), applicationspecific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable logic devices (PLDs)and programmable logic arrays (PLAs). The hardware and firmwarecomponents of the computing device 100 may include various specializedunits, circuits, software and interfaces for providing the functionalityand features described here. The processes, functionality and featuresmay be embodied in whole or in part in software which operates on aclient computer and may be in the form of firmware, an applicationprogram, an applet (e.g., a Java applet), a browser plug-in, a COMobject, a dynamic linked library (DLL), a script, one or moresubroutines, or an operating system component or service. The hardwareand software and their functions may be distributed such that somecomponents are performed by a client computer and others by otherdevices.

The processes and apparatus described herein may be implemented with anycomputing device. A computing device as used herein refers to any devicewith a processor, memory and a storage device that may executeinstructions including, but not limited to, personal computers, servercomputers, computing tablets, video game systems, telephones, personaldigital assistants (PDAs), portable computers, and laptop computers.These computing devices may run an operating system, including, forexample, variations of the Linux, Unix, MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows, PalmOS, Solaris, Symbian, and Apple Mac OS X operating systems.

The computing device 100 may be implemented as hardware, software,firmware, or a combination thereof. Additional and fewer units, modulesor other arrangement of software, hardware and data structures may beused to achieve the processes and apparatuses described herein.

Closing Comments

The foregoing is merely illustrative and not limiting, having beenpresented by way of example only. Although examples have been shown anddescribed, it will be apparent to those having ordinary skill in the artthat changes, modifications, and/or alterations may be made.

Although many of the examples presented herein involve specificcombinations of method acts or system elements, it should be understoodthat those acts and those elements may be combined in other ways toaccomplish the same objectives. With regard to flowcharts, additionaland fewer steps may be taken, and the steps as shown may be combined orfurther refined to achieve the methods described herein. Acts, elementsand features discussed only in connection with one embodiment are notintended to be excluded from a similar role in other embodiments.

As used herein, “plurality” means two or more.

As used herein, whether in the written description or the claims, theterms “comprising”, “including”, “carrying”, “having”, “containing”,“involving”, and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, i.e.,to mean including but not limited to. Only the transitional phrases“consisting of” and “consisting essentially of”, respectively, areclosed or semi-closed transitional phrases with respect to claims.

Use of ordinal terms such as “first”, “second”, “third”, etc., in theclaims to modify a claim element does not by itself connote anypriority, precedence, or order of one claim element over another or thetemporal order in which acts of a method are performed, but are usedmerely as labels to distinguish one claim element having a certain namefrom another element having a same name (but for use of the ordinalterm) to distinguish the claim elements.

As used herein, “and/or” means that the listed items are alternatives,but the alternatives also include any combination of the listed items.

1. A method of playing a card game involving a dealer and optionally abanker, who may be the same person or may be one or more computingdevices, and at least one player, the method comprising the steps of:accepting a collection from at least one player who has elected toparticipate in a bonus jackpot game, wherein the collection is added toa bonus jackpot pool dealing to each player a hand of two or more cardspaying a predetermined bonus jackpot payout from the bonus jackpot poolto each player who paid the collection and was dealt a hand equal to oneof a plurality of hands eligible for a bonus jackpot payout according topredetermined rules.
 2. The method of playing a card game of claim 1,wherein the dealer, banker and at least one player concurrentlyparticipate in at least one additional game using the same dealt hands.3. The method of playing a card game of claim 2, wherein the at leastone additional game is selected from the group consisting of draw poker,stud poker, low-ball, Texas Hold-em, Omaha, blackjack, baccarat, pai-gowpoker, pai-gow tiles, Caribbean Stud, Easy Poker, pan nine, super nine,thirteen card, and three-card poker.
 4. The method of playing a cardgame of claim 2, wherein the bonus jackpot game is played with athree-card hand
 5. The method of playing a card game of claim 4, whereinthe at least one additional game is three-card poker.
 6. The method ofplaying a card game of claim 4, wherein the at least one additional gamerequires hands of more than three cards, and the bonus jackpot game isplayed with the first three cards dealt to each player.
 7. The method ofplaying a card game of claim 4, wherein the predetermined bonus jackpotpayout for at least one possible 3-card hand is at least 100 times thecollection amount.
 8. The method of playing a card game of claim 7,wherein the predetermined bonus jackpot payout for at least one possible3-card hand is at least 200 times the collection amount.
 9. The methodof playing a card game of claim 8, wherein the bonus jackpot payouts aremade according to the following pay-out table: mini royal flush ofspades: 200 times the collection amount straight flush (not mini royalflush of spades): 40 times the collection amount three of a kind: 30times the collection amount straight: 6 times the collection amountflush: 3 times the collection amount pair: equal to the collectionamount.
 10. The method of playing a card game of claim 8, wherein thebonus jackpot payouts are made according to the following pay-out table:mini royal flush of spades: 200 times the collection amount mini royalflush (not spades): 100 times the collection amount straight flush (notmini royal flush): 40 times the collection amount three of a kind: 30times the collection amount straight: 6 times the collection amountflush: 3 times the collection amount pair: equal to the collectionamount.
 11. The method of playing a card game of claim 8, wherein thebonus jackpot payouts are made according to the following pay-out table:mini royal flush: 200 times the collection amount straight flush (notmini royal flush): 40 times the collection amount three of a kind: 30times the collection amount straight: 6 times the collection amountflush: 3 times the collection amount pair: equal to the collectionamount.
 12. A method of playing a card game involving a dealer and abanker, who may be the same person or may be one or more computingdevices, and at least one player, the method comprising the steps of:the banker accepting a first bet from a least one player that theplayer's hand will be one of a plurality of hands eligible for a bonusjackpot payout according to predetermined rules the dealer dealing tothe banker and to each player a hand of three cards the banker paying apredetermined bonus jackpot payout to each player who made the first betand was dealt a hand equal to one of a plurality of hands eligible for abonus jackpot payout wherein the predetermined bonus jackpot payout forat least one possible 3-card hand is greater than 100 times thecollection amount.
 13. The method of playing a card game of claim 12,wherein the dealer, banker and at least one player concurrentlyparticipate in at least one additional game using the same dealt hands.14. The method of playing a card game of claim 13, wherein the at leastone additional game is a poker game.
 15. The method of playing a cardgame of claim 14, wherein the at least one additional game is three-cardpoker.
 16. The method of playing a card game of claim 15, wherein the atleast one additional game requires hands of more than three cards, andthe method of claim 12 is applied to the first three cards dealt to eachplayer.
 17. The method of playing a card game of claim 12, wherein thepredetermined bonus jackpot payout for at least one possible 3-card handis at least 200 times the collection amount.
 18. The method of playing acard game of claim 17, wherein the bonus jackpot payouts are madeaccording to the following pay-out table: mini royal flush of spades:200 times the collection amount straight flush other than mini royalflush of spades: 40 times the collection amount three of a kind: 30times the collection amount straight: 6 times the collection amountflush: 3 times the collection amount pair: equal to the collectionamount.
 19. The method of playing a card game of claim 17, wherein thebonus jackpot payouts are made according to the following pay-out table:mini royal flush of spades: 200 times the collection amount mini royalflush other than mini royal flush of spades: 100 times the collectionamount straight flush other than mini royal flush: 40 times thecollection amount three of a kind: 30 times the collection amountstraight: 6 times the collection amount flush: 3 times the collectionamount pair: equal to the collection amount.
 20. The method of playing acard game of claim 17, wherein the bonus jackpot payouts are madeaccording to the following pay-out table: mini royal flush: 200 timesthe collection amount straight flush, other than mini royal flush: 40times the collection amount three of a kind: 30 times the collectionamount straight: 6 times the collection amount flush: 3 times thecollection amount
 21. A computing device for playing a jackpot bonusgame, the computing device comprising: a user input device a displaydevice a processor a memory wherein the processor and the memorycomprise circuits and software for receiving, via the user input device,an election from at least one player to participate in a bonus jackpotgame receiving a collection from each player who elected to participatein the bonus jackpot game, wherein the collection is added to a bonusjackpot pool dealing to each player a hand of two or more cards paying apredetermined bonus jackpot payout from the bonus jackpot pool to eachplayer who elected to participate in the bonus jackpot game and wasdealt a hand equal to one of a plurality of hands eligible for a bonusjackpot payout according to predetermined rules.
 22. The computingdevice for playing a jackpot bonus game of claim 21, wherein thecomputing device and at least one player concurrently participate in atleast one additional game using the same dealt hands.
 23. The computingdevice for playing a jackpot bonus game of claim 22, wherein the atleast one additional game is selected from the group consisting of drawpoker, stud poker, low-ball, Texas Hold-em, Omaha, blackjack, baccarat,pai-gow poker, pai-gow tiles, Caribbean Stud, Easy Poker, pan nine,super nine, thirteen card, and three-card poker.
 24. The computingdevice for playing a jackpot bonus game of claim 22, wherein the jackpotbonus game is played using three-card hands.
 25. The computing devicefor playing a jackpot bonus game of claim 24, wherein the at least oneadditional game is three-card poker.
 26. The computing device forplaying a jackpot bonus game of claim 24, wherein the at least oneadditional game requires hands of more than three cards, and the methodof claim 1 is applied to the first three cards dealt to each player. 27.The computing device for playing a jackpot bonus game of claim 24,wherein the predetermined bonus jackpot payout for at least one possible3-card hand is at least 100 times the collection amount.
 28. Thecomputing device for playing a jackpot bonus game of claim 27, whereinthe predetermined bonus jackpot payout for at least one possible 3-cardhand is at least 200 times the collection amount.
 29. The computingdevice for playing a jackpot bonus game of claim 28, wherein the bonusjackpot payouts are made according to the following pay-out table: miniroyal flush of spades: 200 times the collection amount straight flush(not mini royal flush of spades): 40 times the collection amount threeof a kind: 30 times the collection amount straight: 6 times thecollection amount flush: 3 times the collection amount pair: equal tothe collection amount.
 30. The computing device for playing a jackpotbonus game of claim 28, wherein the bonus jackpot payouts are madeaccording to the following pay-out table: mini royal flush of spades:200 times the collection amount mini royal flush (not spades): 100 timesthe collection amount straight flush (not mini royal flush): 40 timesthe collection amount three of a kind: 30 times the collection amountstraight: 6 times the collection amount flush: 3 times the collectionamount pair: equal to the collection amount.
 31. The computing devicefor playing a jackpot bonus game of claim 28, wherein the bonus jackpotpayouts are made according to the following pay-out table: mini royalflush: 200 times the collection amount straight flush (not mini royalflush): 40 times the collection amount three of a kind: 30 times thecollection amount straight: 6 times the collection amount flush: 3 timesthe collection amount pair: equal to the collection amount.